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 1997 Tripper Chris Brings Mystery
of Ranger 10-Day to the World
Tamakwa turns up in the darndest places...films, books, fashion, school, even outer space. Whatever they do or wherever they go, Tamakwans
find ways to give expression to camp's impact on their lives. Tripper Chris
Stewart found his way when CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting) held an essay
contest to honour the opening of a national Canoe Museum in Peterborough,
Ontario. Chris won it. CBC aired his story about a mystery cabin on Cedar
Lake that he and his 12 year old campers stumbled upon during the Ranger
10 Day canoe trip last summer. Here is just an excerpt:
MY BEST CANOE MEMORY
Chris Stewart, Kingston, Ontario
At every camp site in Algonquin Park there is a box privy located at the end of a short path. When you take young campers on canoe trips, they
seem to find great pleasure in finding these outdoor privies. They then
come running back to the others to inform them the status of his or her
find. So with dear determination, Joseph Heller of Toronto set out to find
our BIFFY box. However, he found something much more than any of us would
have imagined. Seconds after Joseph ventured out on his search, we heard
him cry out in excitement that he had found a house! The rest of us quickly
dropped what we were doing and followed the excited twelve year old up
the path. At the top of path, was a huge abandoned log cabin in the middle
of a fairly large opening. I immediately got a shiver as we approached
the spooky estate. The place was huge and needed much repair, especially
the roof. After investigating the place, we were able to identify two large
stone chimneys, a large common room, a number of bedrooms, and a kitchen.
In the back of the cleared area, there were also several other buildings
that looked like abandoned stables, sheds and servants' quarters.
The place gave me the creeps as we investigated the place for about five minutes. Several of the boys felt the same way. One of them even claimed
that there was a ghost watching us. This led all of the boys into a huff
and many were ready to push on to another camp site. However, time and
darkness were against us and I said that we had to stay.
Nothing happened to us that night as many of the boys had thought. There were no ghosts that haunted us or any weird noises in the dark. The only
noises that came from the dark were from the nasal passage of Noah Goodman
as he snored the night away.
The mystery cabin on Cedar Lake was once called Kish-Kaduk Lodge, which was once a railway stop also known as Government Park
Station.
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